Topps Chrome x SpongeBob (25th Anniversary): What’s Inside, What’s Rare, and What We’re Chasing

Twenty-five years of Bikini Bottom gets the full Chrome treatment, and it’s actually stacked. The 2025 Topps Chrome SpongeBob 25th Anniversary set brings a 200-card base checklist, meme-era inserts, creator sketches, and voice-actor autos. Below is a clean breakdown for anyone ripping boxes or hunting singles.

Release & Formats

• Release: 1 October 2025.

• Hobby box: 12 packs, 5 cards per pack (the hit-friendly format).
  

  

  
  

• Value (retail) box: 7 packs, 4 cards per pack, with retail-exclusive Kelp Green parallels (two per box).
  
  

  

  
  

Topps has the official product hub, plus downloadable checklist and odds - handy if you’re tracking pulls.

The Base Set (200 cards)

It’s a love letter to the show: core characters, deep-cut side characters, locations, quotes, and episode moments - everything from Smitty Werbenjägermanjensen (#1) and DoodleBob (#2) to The Bubble Bowl (#100) and SpongeBob’s Nose Flute (#200).

Base parallels you’ll see in Hobby (examples):

• Refractor ~1:3 packs

• Aqua Lava ~1:22 packs

• Gold Refractor ~1:86 packs

• Orange Refractor ~1:171 packs

• Black / Red / SuperFractor (1/1) tiers on the grid as well.

There’s also a Night Shift Variant base (a fun nod if you know, you know). Odds are long, so treat it as a quiet chase.

Inserts (the fun stuff)

Topps pulled hard on nostalgia and in-jokes. Highlights include:

• Masterful Memes — Handsome Squidward, Mocking SpongeBob, Tired SpongeBob, Squidward Looking Out the Window, and more.

• Kelp Reviews — a foodie tour of Bikini Bottom (Nasty Patty, Krusty Krab Pizza, Triple Gooberberry Sunrise…).

• S-O-N-G Songs — Sweet Victory, Campfire Song Song, The Best Day Ever, etc.

• Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy — heroes, villains, and vehicles from the Mermalair era.

• Gross Out! — those close-up stills in shiny refractor form.

• SB-129 — character-driven art cards for the main crew.

• Bold & Brash — belongs in the museum (and in this checklist).

• Bikini Bottom VIPs — plus Duals and Triples for mash-ups (think SpongeBob–Squidward–Patrick, Mermaidman–Barnacleboy, etc.).

• Shadowbox — five rare “prop” cards: SpongeBob’s Spatula, Mr. Krabs’ First Dollar, Krabby Patty Secret Formula, The Magic Conch, Squidward’s Clarinet.

Most inserts echo Chrome’s color ladder down to SuperFractor 1/1; the odds sheet lays out the pack math if you’re calculating expected hits. 

Check out the 2025 Topps Chrome SpongeBob 25th Anniversary Odds

Autographs & Creator Sketches

Voice-actor autos (selection):
Tom Kenny (SpongeBob), Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick), Rodger Bumpass (Squidward), Carolyn Lawrence (Sandy), Jill Talley (Karen), plus notable guests like Mark Hamill, Johnny Knoxville, Bobby Cannavale, Eric Bauza, Brian Doyle-Murray, and more. There are Dual and Triple auto combos too.

Sketch Cards: a big roster of artists contributes 1/1 sketches; and the headline DoodleBob Sketch Cards are true creator pieces by Carl (C.H.) Greenblatt, Paul Tibbitt, William Reiss, Clint Bond, Gregg Schigiel, Caroline Director.

Check out the 2025 Topps Chrome Spongebob 25th Anniversary Checklist

Quick Odds Snapshot (Hobby)

A few useful benchmarks straight from Topps’ grid:

• Base Refractor: ~1:3 packs

• Aqua Lava: ~1:22 packs
  

• Masterful Memes (base): roughly 1:48–63 range depending on colour tier; down to SuperFractor 1/1 at the top of the pyramid. 
  

• Gold Refractor: ~1:86 packs

• Dual/Triple Autos: ultra-long odds (per-card odds in six figures in retail; Hobby still tough pulls).
  
  Check out the 2025 Topps Chrome SpongeBob 25th Anniversary Odds

Hobby vs Value - which should you buy?

• Hobby: Best if you’re chasing autos, sketches, and low-numbered colour (12x5 format). The average colour cadence and hit types make it the “serious rip.”

• Value (retail): Cheaper, lighter chase, and you get 2× Kelp Green parallels per box - nice for character collectors and set building.

TL;DR

It’s not a lazy nostalgia sticker set. It’s a proper Chrome build with meme canon, deep episode cuts, big-name autos, and real chase layers. If SpongeBob lives rent-free in your head, this release goes straight into the PC.